“They seem to be having a good time,” whispered Colin. “Let’s not go any closer though,” he added, not wanting a repeat of that afternoon.
Before Meghan could answer, a screeching howl ripped through the quiet of the night. A howl that was eerily similar to the one heard earlier that day.
It was much closer this time. Much lower to the ground. Just above the treetops.
The gypsy music halted and a huge commotion followed as once again they scurried into hiding.
For a moment, Colin wanted to watch more closely and see if they all went into one wagon, as before. However, he had an equally strong desire to run and hide.
Uncle Arnon rounded the corner of the camp road just as another screech resonated through the night sky.
“Come on you two, time to get inside,” said their uncle, quickening his pace.
“That was the same screech we heard earlier,” said Meghan, officially creeped out. “Must be a large owl,” she gulped. “I’ve never heard one like it before.”
Shadows danced on the ground around them in what little moonlight streamed through the tall pine trees. Colin jumped as a shadow moved alongside him, but it was just a swaying branch.
“Ha,” started Meghan, ready to make fun. In the next second, she froze and sucked in a quick breath. Something unseen beamed a spine-chilling quiver down her back, and into Colin’s mind. They could not escape the sensation that something unfriendly was watching them, from somewhere uncomfortably close by.
“M-maybe we should hurry?” Colin said, trembling. He did not want to see what was responsible for such a horrific feeling.
Uncle Arnon led them into the trailer and got them locked up for the night.
CHAPTER FOUR
Meghan’s mind raced over the events of the day. Colin sensed this and asked her what she was thinking.
“I hate to admit it, but this whole day seems kind of strange.”
“That’s an understatement!” They pondered on the subject for a while, separately, until their uncle’s voice intruded into their thoughts.
“Time for bed. Goodnight you two.” It was impossible not to notice his hands quivering as he closed their door.
The twins crawled into bed, ill by the fact that Uncle Arnon was clearly spooked.
“He’s not supposed to be scared of owls, even large ones,” Meghan stammered silently.
“It is out of character, but maybe… maybe that screeching isn’t an owl. Maybe we missed something. Remember Kanda’s story tonight? Always seek the truth, because it might not be what you first think.”
“Was that her point? I stopped listening at the end,” she lied.
“Yes, it was,” he said, shuddering at the thought of some creepy-crawly creature wandering around outside the trailer.
“No. It has to be an owl,” she whispered. “I mean, what else could it be?”
Colin shook his head. He had no better answer.
Meghan continued. “What I want to know is why those gypsies freak out every time that screeching owl, or whatever it is, comes around? And tonight…” she hesitated.
He knew what she was thinking of. Something hidden, something evil, had been watching them. Colin shivered, goosebumps rising on the surface of his skin. His gut told him to hide, but if he crawled any deeper into his bed covers, he would soon be sleeping at the foot of his bed.
“That was pretty creepy,” agreed Meghan, again hating to admit that it had frightened her. Then, attempting to lessen their level of alarm, she added, “It was the middle of the night! Which is always creepy here.”
“True,” he agreed. “However, owls don’t typically screech during the day, and the first time we heard it was this afternoon, in broad daylight,” he reminded.
“It’s always dark in the woods. Maybe it messes with their day and night radar.”
The conversation ended with Meghan rolling over and facing the wall. She hid her true feelings from her brother so as not to frighten him more than he already was. More so, she had a nagging feeling that the screeching howls had something to do with the gypsies. Come tomorrow, she was determined to find out why.
Unbeknownst to her, Colin was having a similar hidden thought, however slightly altered. How come I have a feeling Meghan’s going to be dragging me along to spy on those gypsies? He tried to put the thought and the day out of his mind, pulled the covers over his head, and eventually fell asleep.
Meghan found herself dreaming in no time.
She walked through the woods hand in hand with Sebastien. It was dark, and yet not frighteningly so. He did not speak to her, just simply stared with his hypnotizing smile.
They stopped. Staring at the ground.
Fog rolled in all around them, hiding the pathway.
Meghan sucked in nervously, grateful that Sebastien was with her. Getting lost in the fog was not fun. In her next breath though, she gasped, his grip releasing. His body, falling backwards into the fog.
Did he trip? He must have. Sebastien wouldn’t have left her there all alone, on purpose.
She called out for him but there was no answer.
Only more fog. Thicker. Consuming the space around her.
She spun in circles, her breaths getting heavier. Her lungs burning. Poisonous fumes threatened to steal her breath away.
“This isn’t fog. It’s smoke!” She panted heavily searching for a way out. “It’s just a dream…” she reminded herself. One in which she felt very much awake.
A silhouette emerged in the smoke. Meghan shouted for help. The figure was holding a handkerchief over its face.
“Colin? Is that you?”
It was. He grabbed her, dragging her lower to the ground hopeful of clearer air.
“How did I get here? Am I in your dream, for real?” he asked.
“I guess so.” Panic squeezed at her chest. This was the most life-like dream she had ever had, and now Colin was stuck in here with her. It had never happened before, them sharing a dream. Yes. It is just a dream. Just a dream.
“Just a dream that feels quite real,” Colin choked, out loud. Even inside the dream, they could read each other’s minds. He motioned for her to follow. Surprised at his relative calmness, she crawled behind him. Soon, scorching heat replaced the smoke. It forced them to stop crawling and stand up.
Twenty feet in front of them a tree burned, smoke billowing from the top, and to the twins’ horror, a young girl sat in one of the branches appearing unconcerned that fire was about to engulf her.
“This is only a dream,” panted Meghan.
“Of course it is,” agreed Colin, beginning to lose his nerve.
Meghan took a step closer, ignoring the urge to scream at the girl, and instead calmly coaxed her. “Hey, little girl, you should get down from there.”
The pale faced girl stared down at them from her perch. Her deep red, nearly black hair shifted in the fire’s wake. Her eyes never left contact with Meghan’s, but her arm raised and pointed. The twins’ gazes turned and focused on where she was pointing. A moving ball of fire blustered toward them. Meghan turned in circles searching desperately for a safe passage out of this fiery mess, but the fire and smoke were too thick.
“What is that?” asked Colin sharply.
“I must wake up. Please someone wake me up.”
“Yes,” agreed Colin, “Please someone, wake you up!” He clasped her hand in his but instantly let go, covering his head instead. As if this act would somehow protect him from the ball of flame gliding closer.
Meghan turned away.
Colin muttered desperately, “Wake up already!”
“Still no idea how to accomplish that feat,” she yelled back, at the same time noticing that the little girl in the tree had disappeared. “Hey, look, the little girl, she’s gone.”
Her brother did not look or reply. There was a weak, half attempt at a tug on her arm.
Meghan cast him a side-glance. His eyes were wide in a mixture of fear and shock. She held her breath a
nd turned around to see what was frightening him, one slow step at a time.
There in front of her, staring back through the ball of flame, was Meghan.
It was herself in the fiery ball blazing at them.
She froze, horrified.
The other her, the one engulfed by flame, edged closer. She wasn’t screaming in pain. Or panicked. Her gaze was strong and determined. And heading straight for the real her and Colin.
Meghan backed away, shaking.
The fiery version of her got closer, lifting and extending a burning arm.
Meghan backed away even more. “Colin,” she shouted. There was no answer. She hastily glanced around. He was gone. Or had he succumbed to the smoke? She called out again, but no answer.
It was just her, and the on fire her, facing each other.
The flames licked out and the real Meghan stepped back again. Her breath hitched when something blocked her path. She turned her head and saw she’d backed herself into a tree. Her hands reached behind her body searching for the rounded edges, so she could sneak around the trunk.
“Do not be afraid.”
The real Meghan peered directly into the eyes of the fiery her. It had just spoken to her. I mean I just spoke to myself… she shook her head. Whatever. Fire is still fire and I’m about to get burned.
As if it understood her fears, the fiery version of her spoke again. “Do not be afraid. These flames will protect you.”
“Protect me from what? The only thing I need protection from is you. Oh why can’t I wake up?” she cried out, exasperated. The flames thrashed at her skin, but to her amazement, they did not burn her. Still, she closed her eyes, waiting to feel herself burning alive in her own dream.
When she finally dared open them, the second Meghan was gone, and she alone stood with the flames engulfing her. She stretched out her arms examining the flames licking at her skin, amazed that they did not burn. Even more confusing was that the flames felt like a protective shield that coated her entire body.
“This is by far, the strangest dream I have ever, ever had!”
Meghan jumped, startled, when the little girl suddenly appeared in front of her. She extended her hand to touch Meghan.
“No, you’ll hurt yourself,” she warned.
The girl laughed, her own hand bursting into flame.
Meghan gasped at the sight.
“Now, I am no longer alone,” the girl said playfully. “I am sorry though,” she added, her smile suddenly forlorn.
“Sorry?” questioned Meghan, confused.
“For what comes next,” she whispered gravely.
A speechless Meghan watched as flames engulfed the girls’ body, and seconds later, her silhouette dissolved into the smoke and flame, leaving Meghan alone.
She closed her eyes again, this time hearing voices in the distance, calling her. Her mind followed them and when she opened her eyes, she was awake and on the floor of her bedroom, drenched in sweat. Uncle Arnon knelt on the floor next to her, with Colin beside him looking half frightened to death.
Meghan struggled to find her voice, asking for water. Colin ran for a glass. Her uncle helped her sit up and examined her arms and legs.
“What are you looking for?” she managed to ask, still catching her breath. She wondered if Colin had told him about the dream. Then, she wondered if Colin had actually been there at all.
“You fell off the bed, just making sure nothing’s broken. Must have been some dream. You okay?”
“Yeah, except, I feel kind of beat up.” Every muscle in her body ached, and the flames still burned hot in her mind.
Colin arrived with the water.
“I made it extra cold.”
It was hint enough to confirm that he had indeed been stuck in her dream. After making sure she was not physically injured, Arnon sighed, relieved, and ordered the twins back to bed. As soon as their uncle was back in his own bed, she sat up.
“Colin,” she said through her thoughts.
“Are your dreams always that fun?”
“Very funny, Col. It was so real. I never have such vivid dreams. You disappeared. What happened?”
“Uncle Arnon woke me. You had fallen off the bed and he came running in. You were flopping around having some sort of seizure or something.”
She wrinkled her nose at the thought of wobbling around on the floor uncontrollably as others watched.
“What happened after I left the dream?” Colin asked cautiously, unsure he wanted to hear it.
“The flames overtook me, the other Meghan disappeared, and I became her. I was standing there on fire, Colin. The really strange part is the fire didn’t burn me. It was hot, but it didn’t burn. And then, the little girl came back and said…” she hesitated.
“What? What did she say?”
“She said, ‘I am no longer alone’ and something about being sorry about something.” It was starting to become fuzzy in Meghan’s memory.
“What does that mean?”
“How do I know?” she snapped back, silently.
“Sorry.” He waited for her to continue.
“If I had to, Col, I’d swear it really happened.”
“I would say it’s official now, we have been at camp for a hardly a day and already it’s the strangest summer we have ever had.”
Meghan could not argue with that fact. “I’m tired now,” she muttered. “Night, Col. Going back to sleep.”
“Okay, and a, no more dreams, or at least, leave me out of it, huh?”
She did not reply, and secretly hoped it would never happen again. She tossed and turned, the dream refusing to leave her thoughts, the heat of the flames still nagging at her subconscious. With each passing minute aggravation kept her from falling asleep and annoyance replaced confusion and concern.
Colin also had trouble falling back to sleep. His thoughts reeled through various topics, but none more so than how he had ended up in his sister’s dream. He must have hooked onto her thoughts while they were sleeping. It had never happened before, but their ability had changed over the years, so why not again?
Then, an alarm went off in his head. How would they control this new ability if it happened while they were sleeping? Would and could this happen every night?
It was a devastating thought. Not only because of the interruption in their sleep, or being forced to participate in his sister’s dreams, but that his dreams were the one place no one, including his mind-reading sister, could ever get into. It was his only safe place. The only place he was completely free. He could not allow it to happen again!
“How do I stop it though?” he whispered. “How do I control something that happens while I’m sleeping?” Unsure of how to control this new step in their abilities, he attempted to clear his mind, hoping it would be enough. He tossed and turned, pulling the covers over his head, and waited impatiently for sleep.
CHAPTER FIVE
Sebastien arrived the next morning, and the trio headed to the lake, not too far from their favorite sideways growing tree. They looked forward to a morning boat trip. In minutes, they arrived and found Kanda’s boat, tied up at a dock near the shore.
“It might take all morning just to get that knot out,” sighed Colin.
“Nah! I can get it out in no time,” Sebastien promised, setting in to untying the mess of rope that was keeping the boat attached to the dock. After fifteen minutes, he had made little progress, and the trio’s excitement waned.
A presumptuous voice startled them from behind.
“I could help you with that.”
They spun around to see a gangly looking lad leaning against a tree with his arms loosely crossed. The twins recognized him from the gypsy caravan. He’d been a member of the family that had lagged behind, and had dropped his suitcase. His dangly hair hid his face, just as it had before.
The trio gawked awkwardly at the scrawny boy, but did not answer.
“Okay,” the boy said smugly. “You don’t need any help, then?”
/> “Sorry,” said Meghan. “You startled us.”
“Didn’t mean to. But I’m pretty good with knots,” he boasted.
“I can’t seem to make any progress,” said Sebastien, stepping aside. “Be my guest.” He motioned for the boy to give a try.
The boy knelt down taking a look over the knot, before hiding the rope from view. Just a minute later he stood up, rope in hand. The stunned trio clapped their hands, astounded at how dexterously he had done it.
“Wow! Thanks!” said Meghan, smiling at the boy.
“Was nothing,” he insisted, suddenly sheepish.
“My name is Meghan by the way, and that is my brother, my twin brother, Colin. And this is our friend Sebastien.”
“Name’s Jae. I’m staying in the camp too. You might have noticed all the wagons.”
“Yeah, we saw them,” piped in Colin. “We were eating breakfast when you guys arrived in the camp. You’re staying in those wagons that are always empty. And I really like the music you play on those strange looking guitars, too.” Colin realized he had said a mouthful and was afraid he had given away the fact that they had been spying. His face turned beet red and he cast his gaze to the ground.
Jae did not seem to care.
“We were about to paddle around the lake,” explained Meghan. “Would you care to join us?”
“Um…” His gaze shifted back and forth between the campground and the boat, apparently struggling with the decision. A bit of the smugness disappeared, replaced with hints of both sadness and fear. “You know what? I will come. I just… I can’t stay out for too long.”
“We never stay out for too long anyway,” said Colin. “My sister gets bored fast.”
She huffed out an incoherent grumble.
Jae chuckled. “How about I paddle?” he suggested as they hopped in. “I haven’t had the chance in ages.”
The twins certainly did not mind. This meant they could sit back and enjoy the ride as they knew Sebastien would insist on taking the second paddle. They shoved off from the dock, heading toward the middle of the lake. The water was clear and cool. Patches of fog rolled along the water fighting to survive as the sun rose higher in the sky. Minnows swam near the surface, toying with the lake spiders as they glided across, leaving tiny waves in their wake.
Awaken (The Witches, The Spell Book, and The Magic Tree) (A Fated Fantasy Quest Adventure Book 1) Page 4